It’s pretty crazy that we are already past the one month mark of the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season. As non-conference begins to wrap up, here is this week’s Mountain West men’s basketball power rankings!
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1. Utah State
Utah State couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn against South Florida, losing their first game of the season, 74-61. But the Aggies rebounded in strong fashion on the road against Charlotte with a 26-point win to close out the week. They still didn’t shoot the ball well from distance, but they were proficient from inside-the-arc while netting 16 of their 19 free throw attempts. It was another day at the office for Utah State. Their lone game this week will be their final of non-conference play against Illinois State Saturday.
2. Colorado State
Will Josh Pascarelli ever miss again?! After going a perfect 8-of-8 from beyond the arc against USF on Nov. 28, he followed suit with a 8-of-10 performance from 3-point range against Colorado. The Rams were a plus-33 from distance in their five-point win against their intrastate rival, their last big non-con test before MW play tips off later this month.
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3. San Diego State
San Diego State looked closer to its full form — defensively — with a 77-66 win over Utah Valley. The Aztecs forced 18 turnovers — including 12 live-ball — leading to 21 extra points while finishing a plus-12 on the charity stripe. Utah Valley’s a good-not-great offense, but that was a step in the right direction for the Aztecs after their defense and physicality was well below standards over their first six games.
4. Boise State
Boise State picked up its biggest win of non-conference play with a crucial nine-point win over Butler. Drew Fielder was excellent, while Dylan Andrews poured on 20 points (11 from the free-throw line) with six rebounds and three times in 33 minutes. They close non-con play with dates against Duquense and Saint Mary’s on Wednesday and Sunday, respectively.
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5. New Mexico
New Mexico completely gashed Santa Clara — who bested Xavier, Nevada and Minnesota — inside The Pit, 98-71, beyond impactful performances from Deyton Albury, Antonio Chol, Tomislave Buljan and Uriah Tenette. The Lobos are winners of four-straight and have build serious momentum heading into their final two games of non-con play against VCU and Florida Gulf Coast.
6. Wyoming
Wyoming took care of business in their long contest of the week against Dartmouth. Their equal opportunity, motion-laden offense has five players tallying at least nine points per game, three players with at least 10 points and none above 14.5 points (Leland Walker leads at 14.5 ppg). Sundance Wicks has not been afraid to use all of his depth, and they’ve been impactful.
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7. Nevada
Down Joel Armotrading and, in Sunday’s case, Corey Camper Jr., the Wolf Pack took care of business this week. They fought off a solid UC San Diego team — whose only blemish of the season is Nevada — while racing past a subpar Washington State squad in Pullman, Wash. Tayshawn Comer caught fire in Sunday’s 14-point win, scoring 24 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, three off his previous career high.
8. UNLV
I’m not going to pretend like I know what we’re getting from UNLV every time they step onto the hardwood. Anyone who does is lying directly into your eyeballs. Snapping a three-game losing streak, UNLV escaped with a one-point win over Stanford despite making only three 3-pointers while clanking 11 free throws (in fairness, Stanford missed 10). Making his season debut, Emmanuel Stephen recorded an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Runnin’ Rebels. That’s one way to kick off your UNLV career, eh?!
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9. Grand Canyon
In what was probably the Mountain West’s best week to date, Grand Canyon split a pair of games against Stetson — one of the worst teams in Division-I — and Oklahoma State. Jaden Henley has been on a tear to begin this season, but it was 7-foot freshman Efe Demirel (22 PTS, 6 REB) who took the spotlight in Saturday’s six-point loss to the Pokes. It wasn’t a bad week for the Antelopes, but they do drop to 5-4 — with three of those losses to top-50 teams nationally.
10. Fresno State
Fresno State’s lone game of the week was a 24-point loss to Arkansas. Fresno shot just 4-of-26 from 3-point range — yikes! — including a combined 0-of-16 from Jake Heidbreder, Zaon Collins, DeShawn Gorey and Cameron Faas. This was easily their toughest non-conference game of the season, with their final coming on Wednesday agaisnt CSUN.
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11. San Jose State
San Jose State took care of business against San Diego, securing an 86-69 win at home. It has not won two consecutive games this season. It will be in prime position to this week, continuing their four-game homestand against Long Beach State, who is just 2-8 on the season — including 1-8 against D-I opponents.
12. Air Force
Air Force lost their second true road game of the season against Navy, their final game before MW play tips off for them against SDSU on Dec. 17. They finish 3-8 with wins over Alabama State, SIUE and IU Indy. They have not scored more than 65 points since their demonstrative 13-point win against IU Indy on Nov. 23, where it scored 98.
